Often we hear of healings that have come about as the result of an individual's making use of a Christian Science Reading Room. One morning the writer was confronted with evil in numerous guises, and it was beginning to seem very real to her. Because of many interruptions, she could not rise above a troubled and anxious sense.

All of a sudden the thought came to her, Go to the Reading Room, and she recognized this as an angel message and obeyed. As she walked through the door of the Reading Room, a great wave of peace came over her. Silently she began to express gratitude for this beautiful place in which one could find a sanctuary from the turmoil of mortal mind.

Very shortly she realized that a dull headache, which had been adding to her troubles, was gone. Then she began to find many passages in the Bible and in the writings of our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, to uplift her thought further.

Her thinking became so free that after leaving the Reading Room, she spent the rest of the day helping others to see their true identity as the sons and daughters of God. This is just one instance of what visiting and being grateful for the Christian Science Reading Room can do even in the face of seemingly inharmonious conditions.

In I Chronicles (22:19) we read that David told the princes of Israel to help Solomon, his son, saying, "Arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the Lord God." Christ Jesus said (Matt. 6:6), "When thou prayest, enter into thy closet." And Mrs. Eddy tells us in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 15), "The closet typifies the sanctuary of Spirit, the door of which shuts out sinful sense but lets in Truth, Life, and Love." In the next paragraph she says, "In the quiet sanctuary of earnest longings, we must deny sin and plead God's allness."

One dictionary definition of "sanctuary" is "a place of refuge and protection." The Reading Rooms are indeed places of refuge where one is free from intrusion and where, uninterrupted by error's distractions, one can meditate upon spiritual things. These rooms are human evidences of the concept of God's love for all, which is held by the members of a Church of Christ, Scientist.

A Christian Science Reading Room is even more than a refuge, because it enables humanity to become acquainted with the truth of Christian Science. It is the only place open to the public where all the authorized literature of Christian Science is made available to the visitor and where the stranger can have his inquiries satisfactorily answered in an impersonal way.

Our Leader makes provision for these Reading Rooms in the Manual of The Mother Church. She asked her students to adopt generally the name "Christian Science Reading Room," as stated on page 236 in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany." She adds the statement, "Merely this appellative seals the question of unity, and opens wide on the amplitude of liberty and love a far-reaching motive and success, of which we can say, the more the better."

A Christian Science church which provides for the public a suitable and easily accessible location for its Reading Room is doing the community a great service. Church members should be alert to support it mentally and financially and to visit it as often as possible.

Mortal mind may invent many excuses to keep us from enjoying and supporting our Reading Rooms, such as, "I don't have time," or, "I can read at home." We must recognize and overcome these aggressive suggestions.

Those members who are appointed to serve in the Reading Room have a privilege of great magnitude. One branch church that had just established a downtown Reading Room was having difficulty in finding a substitute for a certain afternoon and finally asked a practitioner to fill this place. At first the practitioner felt she was far too busy to take on more work, but she sincerely wanted to be of service; so after prayerful thought, she accepted the appointment. The time spent serving in the Reading Room brought many blessings and much spiritual unfoldment. Also it provided a wonderful opportunity for specific work, both physical and metaphysical, for the Cause of Christian Science, which had brought much health and happiness into her experience.

To many, the Christian Science Reading Room has been a quiet sanctuary wherein to get a clear sense of God's love and care. As every church member lovingly and faithfully supports a Reading Room, he will help to draw mankind to the protecting and healing Christ, Truth. Did not Jesus say (John 12:32), "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me"?

To fulfill its divine purpose, Christian Science must become known to mankind; therefore in providing Reading Room activity, the church membership is making the Word of God available to the community to meet human needs and bring a Christly sense of peace and good will to the world.